Easter or Passover? Why not both!?

I’ve been hideously busy for the past few weeks trying to finish up my degree without screwing it up at the last minute, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about it today. It’s Passover this week, and although I don’t talk about faith much, it means something to me. This holiday is a matter of community. I spent Tuesday night eating dinner with some friends, talking about plagues and Pulitzer Prize winners and the difficulties of kosher eating in Halifax (is Diet Coke kosher for Passover? Yes!) over pickled beets and matzah ball soup.

That afternoon I had also gotten a package in the mail from my mother and my sister, both located 3000 miles away in Montana. They had thought I needed a little taste of home. Mom and I had a chat over the phone a few weeks ago about whether or not it was appropriate to purchase Easter candy to send to your non-Christian child. I'm in the more chocolate is always better camp, although I know not everyone will feel that way. So Mom sent along some delicious Easter chocolates from Brockel’s Chocolates (note the Made in Montana sticker) and my sister sent along a Ten Plagues Hand Puppet Kit. She knows me really well.

The chocolates were spectacular. If you’re in the Billings area and looking for a treat, I highly recommend. They even finish the top of their caramels in a swirl that looks like a B. Professional quality right there.

After dinner I got to work on the puppets.

Sprawled out on the floor is best place for children's activities.

The kit is made by the brand Rite Lite, which makes a wide variety of religious toys and crafts for Jewish children (or children at heart?). Their plush Seder dinner set for kids looks particularly great.

So, just like it sounds, there’s one hand puppet for each plague, which you make by gluing foam to paper bags. Some of the gluing was really finicky, particularly the lice-sufferer where all of the lice have miniscule googly eyes. I was also really disappointed that there was a mistake in my kit, and I had two sets of lice foam pieces, and no locusts. I suppose you can’t ask too much from things you buy at Walgreens for under $10, especially in a town with a Jewish population of about 5.

It was a nice diversion from studying, but it’s back to reality now.